Quote Originally Posted by SWJED
The increase is also meant to motivate servicemembers to study languages, so the military can develop a strong corps of language professionals, Krenke said.
That's a huge increase! And I thought it was a big deal when the max went from $100 to $300.

That should succeed on the motivational side, but the Army has already shot itself in the foot on the capabilities side.

Once again, I'm beating the drum of HUMINT. Doing away with the language requirement for entry level HUMINT (PVT - SPC), was a huge mistake that is already having a negative impact in the field. In practice, the language requirement is waived for promotion to SGT, and then mandated to acquire a language for SSG and above.

The operational effect is awful. The MI schoolhouse simply churns out a lot of bodies that are half-trained, with no language skills, and most of'em get deployed right away. Its a great example of the Big Army choosing numbers over quality. With the exception of a very few bright shining lights, our tactical HUMINT effort is broken.

Holding off entry-level language training until the mid-grade NCO level results in a crippling effect upon operational expertise for those who need it most.

HUMINT training itself has suffered tremendously, since almost all of the experienced Army guys in uniform are deployed or assigned to an operational unit, teaching the critical skills has been taken up by contractors - most of whom were former Army HUMINT in a very different operational environment. Many don't have any real operational experience, even from "the old days", and a few are instructing who have no real HUMINT background at all. Couple that with overlarge class sizes as TRADOC tries to push through as many bodies as possible, and you get a picture of how poor the quality of training is at a time when effective tactical HUMINT is needed more than ever.

Throwing money at language is a great motivator - but it doesn't fix the real problem.